Home is a Four Letter Word

chapter twenty-three

Early May

"I saw Kaylee got valedictorian today." Jake cleared his throat as they passed the only stop light in town.

They were the first words either of them had said since they got in the truck, yet somehow, the silence hadn't even felt awkward. Neither of them had a grudge against the other this time, they just hadn't had anything to say. Somewhere between a Hunter Hayes song and almost getting rear-ended a mile back, Jake had decided this topic was something worthy of starting a conversation over.

"Yeah, she did. Not really looking forward to giving a speech though."

"Neither was I."

"Right..." Connor cringed. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's not a big deal. She deserves it. Nobody would've cared if I got it anyways."

"I would've." Connor tried to make the conversation more upbeat with a switch of tone that Jake noticed immediately as misplaced optimism. "It's a big deal."

"Yeah." Jake mumbled a response he shouldn't have even bothered with.

The truth was, he did feel sad about it, but he also knew that this was most certainly a really big accomplishment to Kaylee, whereas to Jake it would've been 'just another thing.' He knew it made him sound like a condescending asshole, but it was true. His parents wouldn't have cared, his friends already thought he was the smartest person in the world to them, and no one at OSU would've noticed—it wasn't like there weren't other valedictorians among his incoming peers. It would have just been Jake and Connor who would've cared—and even that was contingent on Connor not deciding he had enough of his homophobic friends to leave him.

"So, did they say anything to you? Do you get like second place or something?" Connor glanced over to him instead of out to the miles and miles of cornfield that Jake was trying to estimate the true length of as they talked.

"Technically, yeah. I'm salutatorian. They told me I don't have to give a speech, but I can if I want."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, that's still really great. You should be proud of yourself." He smiled over to him, causing Jake to rip his attention away from the corn he could see any other day to enjoy the rare spectacle of happiness in front of him.

"In this town it doesn't take much work. They're all idiots. It's really not a big deal." Jake attempted a joke that fell short sounding more like annoyance.

"You don't take compliments well, do you?"

Connor's grin beamed of teasing adoration and Jake couldn't contain the flutter in his heart that came along with such a look. Eventually, he gave in and broke out in a smile.

"No."

"Stop being so humble, you make the rest of us look bad."

"I'm not, I just–"

"See, there you go again!" Connor interrupted him.

"What?" Jake feigned a question he didn't really need the answer to.

"You're trying to downplay yourself again. You're literally humbling yourself about being humble."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"Enough compliments."

Jake's eyes looked to Connor for only a moment before they found themselves back on the road. Connor tried to make his smile turn serious with Jake's demand, but he was utterly failing at the task at hand. Eventually, he gave up trying and offered a nod in solidarity.